Antental, or parentcraft, classes are usually run over eight weeks in the final trimester of pregnancy to help you prepare for childbirth and after birth baby care and offer more detailed information than that on offer during most regular surgery appointments.
It’s a particularly good idea to go to a class if you’re a first-time parent, not just because of what you’ll learn, but also because of with whom you can share the experience. You’ll meet other parents-to-be at a similar stage of pregnancy and can exchange experiences and reassurance, if you’re lucky you may make one or two fast friends who give birth at a similar time to you, and that can be a wonderful support as you cope with the new challenges of motherhood.
Most courses also welcome partners and are a great opportunity for your partner to take an active part in the pregnancy and to learn more about what’s happening to your pregnant body, as well as prompting you both to prepare together for the challenges ahead. If you take a course run by the hospital you’re planning to give birth in you’ll have a chance to familiarise yourself with the hospital’s procedures and labour unit.
You’re entitled to time off work to attend antenatal classes, but there are also courses run in the evenings for those who would find that awkward.
What you can expect to be covered
- Health in pregnancy
- What happens during labour and how a baby is born
- Pain relief options and breathing techniques and exercises
- Body awareness and exercises to help in the later stages of pregnancy and during labour
- Positions for birth
- Relaxation
- Possible complications during labour
- How your partner can assist during labour
- Feeeding, changing and caring for your baby after birth
- Mother’s health after the birth;
- Coping with the change in your family and being parents
A course will cover these issues broadly and may focus on a couple of areas in more depth, this can be partly shaped by you and the questions you have: To get the most out of the classes prepare for them by reading up and asking questions about any concerns or issues that you’d like covered in more depth.
Where to find a course
The antenatal class options on offer will differ according to where you live in the country, in London and other big cities there may be plenty of choice, but the courses may fill up quickly – in some parts of London you might be advised to sign up for a course at the end of your first trimester. In rural areas courses may not run continuously, so it’s a good idea to find out details well in advance.
The main providers of antenatal classes are the National Health Service (NHS) and the National Childbirth Trust (NCT), which is the UK’s biggest network of private antenatal classes. The NHS antenatal classes are free and you should be able to find a spot on a course that’s local to you. You should be aware that groups can be quite large which will give you less input into the direction of the classes and might make it more difficult to strike up friendships. NHS classes may be held during the day or in the evening, so you’ll need to be sure that there’s one in your area that suits your needs.
In some areas the NHS runs courses specifically for women whose first language isn’t English, and some classes may be run purely for mothers.
If you choose a class run by the NCT you will have to pay around £100 (but you won’t need to be a registered NCT member and you might be entitled to a reduced rate). You do get something for your money though, classes are usually fairly small, so you should have plenty of chance to ask questions, and classes are usually held in the evening or on weekends to make life easier for working parents. Small classes allow you more opportunity to get to know the people in your class better, although if you don’t really hit it off with the people in your class that might not be much of an advantage…
The NCT also offers a supportive network for the first few months after childbirth. Coverage of NCT classes will depend very much on where you live, so you should bear in mind that you might need to travel further to reach one than an NHS class, and the other parents you meet might not be quite so local.
There are also privately-run courses, such as those run by Zita West, which may be more convenient for you, though these tend to be relatively expensive.
Antenatal classes condensed and refresher courses
Some areas offer labour days or weekends where classes preparing for labour are condensed into a single day or weekend. These can be good for parents to be who are very short on time, but have the obvious disadvantages of needing to take in a lot of information at one time, having little or no chance to ask follow up questions and not being a great way to meet other parents. Condensed courses also don’t give you the same opportunity to focus your mind on your pregnancy and prepare yourself gradually over weeks for the realities of parenthood.
If you’re not a first-time parent you shouldn’t automatically rule out antenatal courses, as every course will have a different focus and it’s still a great opportunity to meet people. If you feel you don’t really need a whole course though, you should be able to find a refresher course in your area that’s more tailored to your needs.
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